Chapter 5: The Saint

*Lucas*

A long run was what I needed to soothe myself. Even though my reaction to Kennedy had taken me by surprise, I needed to follow through with the plan. Kennedy had to go, and I was convinced of that now more than ever.

Loud music boomed through the speakers of the weight room, it was Titus's typical time to workout and I needed to talk to him before my lunch meeting with Kennedy. Turning down the sound from my phone, Titus grunted as he flung a weight plate on the ground. Titus lived up to his name, all brute strength, power, and stoicism.

He glared at me, I am sure pissed that I was interrupting him, "What happened to you?" he scoffed, annoyingly.

I was still in my button down shirt and black slacks, but they were drenched in sweat and mud. I know I looked like I had been to hell and back, and my body felt like it had. "Don't worry about it. What did you find out about Kennedy?"

"Well your dad basically hired a saint. She has no criminal record, not even a bad mark in school. At thirteen she took a part-time job to help out her dad who got cancer. They lived in debt for years to pay for the medical treatments and he passed when she was eighteen. Then in college she lived with a girl for the first year, who ended up with an illness that doctors still don't know anything about, and have no treatment for her. Kennedy takes care of the girl and pays for her financially, all the while putting herself through six years of college and working multiple jobs. She didn't even quit the job she had prior to this, she still plans on working the weekends. Kennedy's mom bolted right after she was born, I have no information on her. Her dad seemed like a decent guy, nothing odd stuck out in his file either. Her weekend plans were minimal, she worked at the voodoo shop, went to a thrift store, picked up a few books and clothes, and stayed at home the rest of the time. She has no boyfriend, only two exes, one in high school and one her third year of college, neither lasted more than a few months. Seems like her only friend is her roommate Hannah, and the owner of the store. She owes a lot of money in her student loans, and is still paying off her dads and Hannah's medical bills."

Guilt racked me, Kennedy clearly needed the money, and a stable job. I could make a charitable donation to her roommate and find her a decent job somewhere else, but it wouldn't make nearly as much as what she was making here. She was too good to get caught up in my family and my world, it was too dangerous for her to even know about us, let alone work for us. I soured thinking about how my dad put her in this situation, he was on the fast to ruining her life, and she was too sweet and innocent to see it coming.

"She has more integrity in her toes than all of us combined." Titus said, reiterating my thoughts, "What's the play now?"

"I don't know" running my fingers through my damp hair, "I can't force her out and leave her without anything. I might be a bad guy but I am not heartless. There was nothing else on her? No other indication on why my father wanted her?"

Titus almost looked offended that I would question his skills. He was the best at tracking down people, amongst other things, "No boss, nothing else," he said haughty. "But if you are asking me what to do. I would figure out what your father wants with her before jeopardizing her career and her and her roommates life. There has to be a reason behind all this. If you give me some more time, I will figure it out."

What he was suggesting was reasonable, but I couldn't ignore the primal reaction I had to her. I wasn't ready for a complication like that, but I also wasn't ready to easily dismiss her. "Let me get this meeting over with and see where we go from there. Keep digging into her past, there has got to be something there we are missing."

"You want me to talk to the roommate?" He pressed.

"Not yet, let's try to leave her out of this for as long as possible, but check out her illness and see if we can do anything to help. I need you tonight too, my father is having trouble with the Taylor's again."

Titus let out a quiet curse. "How many times do we have to do this with them, it's starting to get on my nerves?"

"Tonight is the last night, they will either fall in line or they're out."

"Call me when you're ready tonight." He pulled out his phone, and turned the volume back up on the speakers getting back to his workout. If he wasn't like a brother to me, sometimes his attitude would merit a punch in the face. Which I got him out of fights more times than I could count, not everyone could handle his insufferable attitude and no tolerance for bullshit.

***

Staring out my bedroom window looking out towards the tree line of the willows, freshly showered and with a change of clothes, I wondered how I was going to get us out of all this mess. Work and family had been so demanding and complicated lately, but I couldn't help but feel it was about to get much worse.

Guttural laughter took me out of my thoughts. Was that Titus? Glancing at my watch I saw that I was late for our lunch meeting. When I made my way to the dining table, Titus was sitting right next to Kennedy, leaning into her, only a few inches of space between them. She had a huge grin on her face, which accentuated her beauty, while Titus was holding his stomach in silent laughter, tears streamed down his face. I'd known him for twenty years and had never once laughed like that, he barely even smiled.

"What's so funny?" I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral. I wanted to rip them apart from each other. The possessive instinct came out of nowhere and I had to suppress a growl that was at the base of my throat.

Titus straightened up and dropped his smile, but he couldn't hide the water in his eye or his flushed face.

"Kennedy was telling me a story. Sorry boss, I'll get out of here and let you get to work."

"Oh I thought you were friends, not your employer?" Kennedy asked.

"He does odd jobs for us," Chuckling to myself, that was an understatement, "but on good days we are friends. He started calling me boss a long time ago as a joke, and it stuck."

"So I shouldn't call you Boss?" She teased back, with a lighter, more relaxed demeanor, much different from earlier this morning.

I, on the other hand, had so much tension in my back that it felt like I had been hit by a semi truck. I wondered if she felt the same strange attraction that I did. If the same tightness recoiled in her body every time I was near.

"Not unless you want to get fired on your first day," Titus retorted, teasing her like they were old friends. "I should get going though." He slapped his hands down on the table, halfway pulling himself up, "It was nice to meet you Kennedy." He moved in close to her again and awkwardly positioned himself to face her. He gingerly wrapped one arm around her and embraced her in a hug, the motion clearly unfamiliar with him.

What in the hell was wrong with everybody! Was our water being poisoned or something? I gaped at him in bewilderment and he shrugged back at me. He slowly let go with a gentle smile and a look of serenity on his face and casually strolled out of the room like he was going to go take a frolic in a meadow.

"He is nice," she hummed in her seat, tapping her pen on the table. It was only then that I noticed she had a large stack of papers in front of her.

"He really isn't." I said, baffled by everything. Today was the most disorienting day I had ever had in my life. "He doesn't like anyone, not even me half the time. What did you do to him?"

"Well I did work in a voodoo shop before this, I picked up a trick or two." She giggled, and that sound shot straight to my soul. If my body reacted like this everytime, I'd be running thirty miles a day. I needed to figure out how to govern myself around her.

Chef Chris came around the kitchen with a large tray of various meats, cheeses, and breads and placed it in front of Kennedy. Her eyes grew twice the size and she ran her tongue over lips. I suddenly got very jealous of those lips and that tongue.

Before she dug in she asked, "Do I need to pay you for all the food?" Her hand hesitated over the cheese, waiting for a response, like my answer would make a difference whether she was going to eat or not. "You know, like a meal plan?"

Was that a real question? Did she really just ask if needs to pay for food? "Just eat the food Kennedy."

"But…" I took her outstretched hand, and immediately regretted it. The muscles in my arm suddenly and without warning spasmed uncontrollably, but for some reason I didn't let go, the feel of her soft skin was too appealing.

"Kennedy, we aren't going to charge you for food that we are already going to eat whether you're here or not. If we did that for everyone, Titus alone would owe us more money than Massi Tech's net worth."

She focused on our joined hands, her breathing picking up its pace with the rise and fall of her chest. She felt it too, she felt this enigmatic link between us, and that gave me more satisfaction than I cared to admit.

"What's going on here?" My father asked from the other side of the kitchen island. His sudden entrance into the room was surprising to us both. We quickly retracted our hands in a way that made it seem like we were doing something illegal and made ourselves busy by grabbing handfuls of food.

"Oh great, I am glad you are here Tony." She quickly swallowed a piece of cheese, "I would like to discuss with both of you what I have found so far."